Unfortunately, digital accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, and Airmiles are all properties that you can own when you pass away. But they are often unknown to anyone but the owner. They can easily get lost in cyberspace unless the owner takes the appropriate steps prior to their passing. But what happens to your digital assets when you die?
Estate planning is important and your virtual assets belong into this plan.
Here are 5 simple steps how to protect your digital assets:
Step 1: Make a list of all your digital assets and how to access each one
Think of all the digital assets you own. Now make a list, including everything from social media accounts to points programs to online banking accounts to home utilities you manage online.
A few digital assets you likely own and should include are:
Computer hardware, like external hard drives or flash drives, tablets, smartphones, digital music players, e-readers, digital cameras, and other digital devices, Data or information stored electronically, whether online, in the cloud, or on a physical device
Online accounts, like email and communications accounts, social media accounts, shopping accounts, photo and video sharing accounts, video game accounts, and websites and blogs that you may own, Domain names, Intellectual property, including copyrighted materials, e-books you’ve written and trademarks
You’ll need to share your logins and passwords so your Executor can properly manage your virtual estate. If you use a password manager, you can share your “master password” with your Executor so they can access all your logins.
If not, then you’ll need to record the login and password information for all these accounts. For computer hardware, like external hard drives or flash drives, tablets, smartphones, digital music players, e-readers, digital cameras, etc., write down where those items can be found, as well as any passwords required to access those devices.
Step 2: Decide how you want these assets to be handled
Depending on what you own, the way you want different types of digital property managed may vary. Some assets you may want archived and saved, others should be deleted or erased, and some will be passed down to family members, friends, or business colleagues.
For each digital asset you own, write down how you’d like your Executor to handle that asset. While your wishes may conflict with some companies’ terms of service, it’s still important to let your Executor know what you want.
If any of your digital assets are worth money, you may want to instruct your Executor to handle those assets differently.
Go through each digital asset on your list and write down next to it how you’d like it to be handled.
Step 3: Decide who will handle your assets
Who do you trust to carry out your wishes for your digital assets?
You’ll want to designate a Digital Executor or someone to help settle your digital estate.
Step 4: Store your digital estate plan in a secure location
Find a secure location to store your list of assets and wishes. A safety deposit box or safe. It’s best to store your list of assets and your list of passwords in separate locations. Tell your family or executor where they can find the information.
You can also store this information with an attorney. Just make sure that the people who need to know where the plan is actually know. Give the person you trust the name of your attorney, or the location of keys or the combination to your safe.
Step 5: If you can, make it legal
Depending on where you live, you may be able to formalize your digital estate plan in a legally binding document, like your Will or a codicil to a Will. The easiest way to do this is to name a Digital Executor in your Will, or specify who your traditional Executor should work with to settle your digital estate. Then you should specify the location of your digital asset inventory, so that when the time comes your Digital Executor can find and access your plan.
Never include passwords or other digital asset access information in your Will. When you die, your Will becomes a public document, which means that anyone can read it, including any sensitive information it may contain. A better solution is to refer in your Will to an outside document that contains all the necessary information needed to settle your digital estate. This way, you can continue to revise and update the document without having to formally change your Will or put your digital assets at risk.
Sven Franssen